


Star Wars: Rey’s Story

by Vezalay



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Love, Marriage, Married Couple, Married Life, Pregnancy, Reylo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 03:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13628139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vezalay/pseuds/Vezalay
Summary: Rey and Ben have fallen in love and gotten married but questions remain. Can they make a life together? Who really were Rey’s parents? Who exactly did they sell her to for drinking money? Can she make a life for herself once she finds out the truth?





	1. Beginnings

One standard year later.  
"What are you doing out here? It's cold in this wind," Ben wrapped the wooly blanket around Rey's shoulders as she stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the waves crash into the island.  
"I've been thinking," she answered staring out over the ocean but seeing something else entirely.  
Ben was glad he'd decided to bring the blanket with him, instead of relying on his skills of persuasion to bring her inside.  
"What have you been thinking?" He mumbled into her hair as he stood behind her, holding her in his arms.  
"Luke's idea about starting a Jedi academy. It wasn't a horrible idea." Rey mused.  
Ben was silent for a moment, "It ended...somewhat badly."  
Rey spun to face him in then, "Luke looked for children with bloodlines and names but what if...if there was no baggage."  
Ben's eyes narrowed.  
"What if we just look for children with a sensitivity to the Force, not worry about lineage or connections, and then we train them without fear of the dark side." Her voice was brimming with excitement.  
"You wouldn't be afraid that history would repeat itself?" He asked, unconvinced.  
Rey tugged his hand toward her, resting it on her bulging abdomen. "No, I'm not worried about history repeating itself."  
Ben brought his other hand to rest on her protruding belly, reaching through the Force to the tiny life inside.  
"If there is anyone capable of teaching a child how to resist the temptations of the darkness, it's you, Ben."  
He kissed her forehead gently, murmuring, "My wife comes up with her best ideas after bedtime."  
She playfully pushed him back, "I'll have you know, the caretakers had me up earlier than you this morning, something about a leak in the reflection pool of the Jedi temple."  
He laughed, folding her back into his arms.  
"A school," he said quietly.  
Rey nodded her head with a smile that illuminated her face in the moonlight, "A school."  
A communication had just come in, Chewbacca informed Rey in a casual moan, handing her a blinking datapad.  
She thanked him and made her way into Ben's study.  
"For you," she said, placing it on his desk and settling into the large plushy chair next to the window. The Jedi text before her was, to her mind, long-winded and lacking in merit but Luke must have seen something in them to have kept them so long. She resumed reading where she had left off.  
"Oh no," Ben said scrolling through the comm.  
"What is it?" She asked, as he was not one for undue drama.  
"The New Galactic Senate demands we end our petition for a new academic license."  
"Why?" She cried.  
Ben slid the datapad across his desk toward her. The message was from Poe, he was currently an administrative liaison for the government offices in Coruscant.  
"Safety concerns?" She questioned, incensed. "Artoo?"  
R2-D2 awoke from sleep mode in the corner with a few distinctive beeps.  
"Could you access a recording of Phasma's speech before the Senate regarding planetary education permits on the holonet?"  
R2-D2 indicated he was searching.  
"Even you, have to admit their concerns have some foundation." Ben rested his elbows on his desk and massaged his forehead with his fingertips while he spoke.  
"Coming from Phasma," Rey quipped, "I'll admit no such thing." She stood to her feet and circled to the front of his desk. She leaned across the desk, her burgeoning belly grazed the top of his desk as she gently pulled his hands away from his face. "Don't let the dark side tug you into believing that you were irredeemable."  
Ben met her eyes, he knew he didn't deserve his life but he was always grateful when Rey affirmed her belief in him.  
R2-D2 beeped in the corner, he had found something.  
Rey sat back in her chair, welcoming the relief it brought her swelling feet.  
"My fellow delegates to this distinguished body," Phasma began, "As a servant of the former First Order, may I remind you all," she paused for dramatic effect, "...of the suffering that was brought upon our great galaxy by the followers of the Jedi Order."  
Ben bristled a bit, "We were not exactly following the Jedi Order..."  
"These religious fanatics destroyed planet after planet, fellow delegates. I had a front row seat, witnessing their careless destruction of peaceful worlds in their battle against the various factions of their breed."  
"She was Hux's right hand officer," Rey fumed at the thought of Phasma's deception before the Senate. It had never ceased to amaze her that Phasma had so successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of the Parnassos System to get herself elected Senator.  
Phasma's speech was droning on in eloquent phrase, until she finally arrived at her point, "The academic application office has informed me, their most ardent defender in this body, that an application has been received from Kylo Ren himself. That, ever fraudulent Supreme Leader who now has reclaimed the name of Ben Solo in order to cover himself with his mother's upstanding reputation. He and the former scavenger he married in an blatant attempt to legitimize her low birth status as the child of drunken miscreants, have endeavored to take in innocent children to teach the ways of this decisive practice."  
"Artoo, stop playback." Ben ordered. He'd heard enough.  
Rey stared at him for a moment silently as she stood to her feet, rubbing her belly gently as the baby seemed to do somersaults inside her.  
"I'm going to Coruscant," she announced.  
"No, absolutely not," Ben stammered, "...the baby!"  
"It's not coming for a while," she countered.  
Ben could feel her determination infiltrating the Force around her. He sighed. It was a lost battle before it began.  
"I'll go with you."  
Landing on Coruscant always took longer than it should. Traffic and regulations on overburdened government personnel caused backups each day. There didn't appear to be an tenable solution.  
Rey sat in the cockpit beside Ben, patiently waiting in silence to land.  
"We could just go home, and send a video speech back." Ben suggested again.  
"You know that wouldn't be as effective." Rey said gently, as she had before. "We need to get people on our side and expose Phasma for the liar she..."  
"We are not going to do anything to Phasma." Ben said firmly, his anger inching up to equal his fear, he wasn't really sure which emotion was which, just then.  
"That's not our job, and it's not our place." He finished more quietly, working hard to keep everything under control.  
The halls of the senate complex were unusually quiet as Rey and Ben made their way to Poe's office. Ben pulled a large suitcase behind him as he followed Rey down the hall. A door in front of them slid open with a hiss.  
Rey fought the urge to skid to a stop when she saw the woman emerging from the doorway. The tall woman was the most imposing figure Rey had ever seen. A shock of blond hair fell in waves over her burn-scarred face where her light blue eyes shot like daggers at Ben and Rey.  
"You came, in person, how predictable of you both." She crooned with a patronizing smile etched into her features.  
"Phasma," Rey said by way of greeting.  
"I suppose you are here to see your old comrade, Poe Dameron. I've just been to see him myself." Her face broke into a disconcerting smile, "Do enjoy your visit."  
Rey nodded silently, and she hoped politely, as she stepped past her.  
Rey could feel Ben bristle with frustration as he passed Phasma with a minimalistic, formal nod.  
Rey held her tongue until the door closed behind them instead giving Ben and knowing look.  
"Hey! You made it!" Poe strode towards them from the far reaches of the office spaces  
Rey immediately sensed anxiety beneath his jovial greeting.  
"It's good to see you," Rey said as Poe scooped her into a hug.  
"You look great!" Poe said motioning to her growing abdomen.  
Ben stepped closer to Rey, placing an arm around her shoulders. Rey knew it was his automatic response to nerves.  
Poe gave Ben a friendly smile.  
"Ben," he extended a hand for Ben to shake. The two had come a long way since Poe's interrogation after they met on Jakku but Rey could feel discomfort on both sides.  
"We just met Phasma in the hall." Rey got down to business.  
"Yeah, she just stopped by to draw my attention to some old First Order records." He answered, motioning to a monitor nearby.  
"What kind of records?" Ben asked stepping closer to the monitor.  
Poe shrugged, clearly confused. "Personnel records mostly, and these..." He tapped a few buttons, and video logs from six different camera angles popped up on the screen.  
Ben crouched closer to the monitor, "Is that the Absolution?"  
"Storm trooper training ship...yeah." Poe answered speeding the videos to triple speed all at once.  
Rey felt her connection to the Force ripple slightly as the anxiety level in the room rose. Why had Phasma brought this data to them? What was she planning?  
"We need to change clothes and get to the Senate chamber," she sighed. Whatever Phasma had in mind, she knew it would all become clear very soon.  
"My fellow distinguished delegates..." Phasma's speech began much as her previous address had. Rey actually managed to drown her out a bit in her mind as she silently rehearsed her own speech.  
C-3PO stood beside Ben, just behind her. It was nice to see him again in his most natural environment, all protocols and manners.  
Her speech played like a recording in her own head.  
But then she felt Ben's hand tighten uncomfortably tight around her own.  
Her eyes flew up to him. Clearly, she had missed something important. Was it already her turn to speak?  
Ben's gaze was trained on the screen above Phasma. Horror rolled off him in waves into the Force.  
The screen showed him as Kylo Ren, dressed in black and masked. He was walking down a hallway. He passed a young girl with brown hair also dressed in the all black uniform that would later be covered in white storm trooper plates.  
"Is that you on the Absolution?" Rey whispered.  
Ben just nodded, his lips parting slightly but no sound emerged.  
Phasma stopped the playback and zoomed in on the paused picture of the young girl who couldn't have been more than eight years old.  
"This girl you see before you is none other than Rey Solo."  
Rey was suddenly intensely aware that every eye in the chamber was now focused on her. She shook her head slightly, her eyes narrowed at the screen. She felt like nothing more than an observer to a play, a performance of some kind. That girl couldn't be her. Rey had never set foot in a space ship until she climbed aboard the Millennium Falcon with Finn.  
"I don't understand what this is." She whispered, hoping only Ben could hear her.  
When he didn't respond she turned her head to look at him.  
"This is ridiculous, wouldn't you remember me? How can she even think this would work? I mean, you're in the same frame." She gestured to the screen.  
Ben just stared at her silently, the horror turned to fear on his features.  
"What is this?" She whispered again, but Phasma was going on.  
"You see, while I had believed, as all of you had, I'm sure, that Rey was the child of gutter snipes from Jakku, there is evidence here that she is not who she has claimed to be."  
Rey shook her head, confused and irritated by the charade. She grabbed the microphone droid in front of her and pushed the activation button harder than was entirely necessary.  
"Phasma, this has gone on long enough, what are you getting at here, exactly? This isn't me." Rey waved her are in the direction of the screen with gusto, "I have no memory of being on a First Order ship and my husband doesn't remember this either."  
Rey heard Ben suck in a breath at her words.  
Something about that sound made her afraid.  
Phasma's eyes made a very slow blink. Rey realized suddenly, without grasping the whole picture yet, that she had just played directly into the woman's hands.  
"If you would be so good as to provide a DNA sample, we should be able to ascertain if it is a match with the old First Order personnel records." Phasma's mouth drew into a pout that if Rey hadn't known better, she might have taken for genuine. "As for what your husband remembers, that's really between the two of you. The important thing for this diplomatic body to know is who the two of you really are, as you apply to take impressionable children into your care for training purposes."  
Rey exhaled suddenly in frustration and looked up at Ben.  
"This whole thing is absurd," she quipped as she signaled to C-3PO to open the door for her.  
She passed through to the hall outside the large chamber and lifting her hands to her hair in annoyance she turned on her heal to face Ben just as the door closed behind him.  
"How could she think this would work? Of course the DNA won't match...is this a stalling tactic? Why didn't you speak up and say you didn't remember me." She didn't wait for him to respond, "Come on, let's find Poe, he'll know where I should go to get the sample taken."  
"Rey, stop."  
The tone of his voice made her blood run cold.  
Slowly, she turned to face him.  
"The DNA would be a match," he said quietly.


	2. Secrets

"What?" She asked, not quite hearing or maybe not quite believing.

"Your DNA will match the records from the First Order." He answered quietly, his voice quaking softly.

"Because she forged it," Rey said it as a statement but it was more of a question and they both knew it.

"Because you were there,” he said softly.

Silence.

"Did you know?" she asked. A deep calm before the storm encompassed them.

Silence again.

"Maybe we should go to somewhere more private." He whispered.

Delegates were starting to file out quietly into the hall around them. Phasma must have concluded her presentation.

"You knew?" She mouthed, her voice lost somewhere in time and space.

Ben reached for her, one hand to her shoulder and one hand to her bulging abdomen, as if he was trying to pull his family close to him.

"Sweetheart..." he breathed, his voice low and husky as he tried to gather her small frame close to his, though she tugged his hands away.

"You said you saw my parents, that they were drunks, that they sold me for drinking money." Her voice went hoarse at the end.

He was trying to move her through the hall.

She shook her head. She could tell people were starting to stare but she couldn't stop herself, even though she wished she could.

"You knew? You knew and you didn't say anything?" She cried, her voice edging upwards at the end.

Without answering, he grabbed hold of both her shoulders and pulled her with him through the hallway. Her legs moved mechanically.

Everything was a lie. Her whole life was a lie.

The door to Poe's empty office slid shut and left them in a dark, silent room.

Numb. Everything inside Rey went numb.

Ben reached for her again but she evaded him deftly, lifting a hand up between them, holding him at bay.

"Rey, please," He whispered as tears escaped his eyes, "Sweetheart."

Rey shook her head, "You're scaring me. I don't know what's going on. Do you know who I am, or...or not?"

"You're Rey Solo, the woman I love, the mother of my child."

Rey's lower lip began to tremble, "You said you saw my parents…that they sold me."

Ben stared at the floor, his mouth working out several answers before he met her gaze again and said, "That's what I saw. Just like I told you..."

"But you knew more than that!" Rey shouted suddenly, "Tell me! How could you not mention that you knew me as a child? How old were you in that clip?" She demanded.

"Probably eighteen," he muttered, "I don't know for sure."

Her eyes pleading, "Ben, why did you do this?"

"I didn't lie to you, Rey," he said softly, beaten.

"Everything has been a lie!" She shoved him through the Force into the desk behind him.

He let her, choosing not to easily deflect her simple manipulation of the Force.

"You can search my mind, take whatever memories you want," he said barely above a whisper as he leaned hard against the desk behind him.

"I don't want to search out your memories, I wanted you to be honest with me," tears were flowing down her face unheeded as she finished.

Overcome with the need to be away from him, she crossed toward the door and escaped, racing through the hall, her hand cradling the developing child in her womb. She didn't stop until she was safely inside their room, sitting alone on the bed.

She ached to feel his comforting arms around her and in the same instant felt relieved that he was far away from her, like it was safer somehow that way. But that didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

Everything was a lie, everything they had shared. How could she ever trust him when he had held such desperate secrets from her for so long?

 

Rey cried softly, tears streaming down her cheeks and soaking into the pillow beneath her. She didn't know what time it was, she didn't care. She was spent, drained, and overwhelmed with wariness until mercifully, sleep claimed her.

In the end though, sleep was not a friend. Dreams turned to nightmares and visions mixed in swirling whirlpools of memory.

_Rey was a child. Not quite alone._

_She was scared, no, terrified. The large, ham-handed Plutt, held her arm tight as she reached toward the sky, begging, pleading to the one who left her to return._

_She waited. Alone. Counting the days until they returned. Marking them each down, etching them in metal._

_She felt herself riding, bumping along on a sled through endless desert sand._

_Then he came to her._

_Not in body, not solid._

_In dreams._

_Or nightmares._

_His eyes, dark and on fire at the same time._

_Standing beside her. Always there. Pulling her close to him, shielding her from harm._

_Then the dream shifted and the floor beneath her turned. She was older then and so was he._

_He was reaching for her, protectively, tucking his arm around her waist and holding her close against his chest. His hand stole to her face, his thumb under her chin, lifting her lips to meet his._

_Softly. Gently. Coaxing._

_Drawing her in, his warmth surrounding her._

_But then he pulled away from her, pushing her back as she clung to him. She twisted her fingers into his cloak desperate to hold on, but he wrenched her free._

_His metal mask distorted in her mind's eye, not quite defined, not really there. It was always just the surface, but she could see who he really was inside. She always could._

_Or did she?_

_She was in the interrogation chair again._

_Kylo Ren was there._

_His mask, his eyes, cutting through her. Not the curious, awestruck eyes she held in her memory that let her read him as easily as the words on a page, but hateful, deceitful eyes that mocked her._

_Suddenly, the whirlpool solidified around her._

_The walls were grey and she could feel the rough cloth of the First Order issued shirt, scratching at her throat. She had been told that she would get used to it, that she would learn not to notice and be distracted by such mundane frivolities. But she longed for her old clothes. Her mother._

_Rey remembered her face. She remembered being held close to her mother's heart, feeling the rise and fall of her chest with each breath._

_She was small enough there in_ _her uniform that she could imagine crawling back into her mother's lap as she went to sleep each night._

_She remembered the tasteless mush served in the mess hall._

_Cardinal._

_His face younger than Rey remembered him as Vi's friend. She could see him across the hall eating his own flavorless fare._

_Phasma. Her helmet was shiny against the glare of the harsh sun's rays._

_The world started to spin again._

_Then he returned. The scared boy who never really grew up. Who wanted to finish a dream, abused and afraid._

_The man who could have hurt her, but saved her life instead, taking the risk for her, sparing her life. But he dissolved away and was replaced by the man on a high bridge talking quietly to Han._

_Igniting his lightsaber._

_Turning his gaze in her._

_She was next._

_She screamed from the balcony as his hateful eyes locked her in place. Her body wouldn't move, she couldn't run, she couldn't hide but suddenly she was in the woods, cold, alone._

_His Force strength sending her flying through the air._

_His face was hot anger and rage, the face of a monster._

_But then monster melted away and she opened her eyes and he was her Ben again. Her scared, flawed, Ben, who would never hurt her, who saved her life from Snoke. Who would sacrifice himself in a heartbeat to protect her._

_His eyes pierced her heart and pulled her toward himself in a gravitational draw._

_Ben was hers, and with him she would never be alone._

_Family._

_Love._

_It was in his eyes, his face._

_She reached up to touch him, needing to feel his skin against hers. He was bending down to kiss her face, cradled in his warm hands._

_Her lips pressed against his lightly._

_Then he was gone._

_She was alone in the desert with sand whipping into her eyes._

She wept softly in her sleep, too exhausted to wake.

The door slid open quietly, Rey never knew when exactly. She felt Ben through the Force moving around the room. Something about his presence unconsciously lulled her into a deeper sleep, no longer aware of her surroundings.

Rey knew she alone as she woke, even before she opened her eyes. She sat up in the darkened room and looked around. The suitcase lay opened on the floor; Ben's things were removed leaving her clothes neatly stacked to one side.

She snatched up her pillow and sent it soaring across the room.

She picked up her comms unit and started at the number of notifications. Connix had sent seven messages, Vi five, Rose, Finn, Poe all sent one each.

Poe's was the only one she opened.

He'd offered to let her search all the data files using his government access.

That was all she really needed.

Rey could feel Ben through the Force, the strength of his emotions clouded her own thoughts as she dressed quickly and splashed water on her face. Then as she wiped the water off with the plain white towel, he appeared through the mind bridge.

"Rey, I'm so sorry." He told her, the love in his eyes and the quivering of his lips matched the emotions she felt flowing into the Force from him.

"Where are you?" She asked, stepping closer, "Why didn't you wake me?"

He looked down a second before answering, "You were crying in your sleep, you were so scared and tired."

"You used the Force to calm me," she whispered.

He nodded, reaching for her hand. She wasn't sure she was ready for that after the night she'd had. The vision of him as a monster still clung to her. There was none of that in his eyes though.

She lifted her hand to hold his, "Where are you?" She asked again.

"I'm off planet, on my way to Parnassos."

She shook her head, "Phasma's home world?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know what I find." He answered, searching her eyes.

She shook her head, there was already too much he wasn't telling her, "Tell me what your remember. Why did you never say?"

"I need you to trust me," he whispered.

"Always," she said.

They both knew it was the truth.

 

The door slid open to Poe's office, but as much as she wanted to cross to his desk and slide unceremoniously behind the monitor, she waited in what she hoped was a nonchalant fashion for a woman standing at his desk with a small child in her arms.

Rey waved at the baby coyly, trying to elicit a smile from the small boy. He giggled at her antics causing his mother to turn around. Rey was unprepared for the reaction that came next. For her part, Rey smiled pleasantly at the woman. Most people seemed to notice nearly immediately that she was pregnant, especially parents, so she braced herself for the usual "when are you due" and that whole conversation. Instead, the woman's face turned to ash when she recognized Rey.

Horror. Shock.

It wasn't that difficult to read the woman's expression but the thoughts she was pushing into the Force around her were unmistakable. Rey winced slightly.

A few moments later, she was seated behind the monitors as she had intended, trying to get the woman's reaction out of her mind. The First Order data was disorganized at best, randomized at worst.

Phasma had the inside track. She must have had some missing part of the puzzle in order to have found the clip she showed the senate so quickly. Rey wondered at her memory though, did she remember all the children that passed through her courses? Finn had mentioned that she always knew his ID number by heart. Rey sighed as Finn came to her mind, why couldn't she remember him? In all likelihood, they were in separate divisions. She couldn't trust her recollection anyway, but Finn seemed to remember his childhood and he never said anything about training with her on the Absolution.

The personnel records seemed like they would be the easiest to sort through. Rey could understand why names were disposed of for standard letter and numerical IDs. All of the languages in the galaxy and various alphabets did create a challenge in record keeping. Still, since there was no need for a brainwashed army of kidnapped children, she didn't exactly condone the practice.

After what felt like hours she gave up on the name search. There was no record under "Rey" and she had no family name to input in the search field. Rey was the name she had used for as long as she could remember but she could never be sure it was her given name.

Poe rolled his ergonomically correct chair closer to her.

"Any luck?" he prompted her.

"I guess I should go ahead with the DNA test, I'll never be able to figure out which entry is mine otherwise."

"Well, do you want to watch any of the footage? I found another shot of you." He offered.

"You did? Are you sure it's me?" She asked.

"Pretty sure," he pulled up the video on the screen before her, "I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I saw you walk in the class, so…here."

The video started to play. There was no audio, just a visual feed.

Rey was young, just like in the video Phasma had shown. She was wearing the scratchy black uniform Rey remembered in her dream. Her hair was pulled back in three buns, just like she wore on Jakku, so apparently she had learned that technique early in life.

The video played on for a few moments, it was some sort of class. She was standing in the front with the other shorter children.

Rey drew in a sharp breath when she saw Kylo Ren walk in the room. He was young too. Gangly, was the only word for him, just a teenager. He looked like he hadn't yet grown into his ears, or his nose for that matter. She couldn't help smiling as she watched him stride across the floor in front of the assembly of children. He started instructing the class in hand-to-hand combat forms.

The class must have been told to pair off.

Rey watched her younger self be partnered with a larger child. She raised her eyebrows as she watched herself kicking and swinging with surprising accuracy, far superior to the skills of her classmates. She was given a larger partner. Apparently, the First Order was not satisfied with merely being above average when more gains could yet be made. This new partner was a boy who looked quiet brawny.

"Seriously?" Poe asked as he watched the video. Rey had almost forgotten he was there.

She shrugged and shook her head, as baffled as he was.

The older boy got in a few good hits but Rey rallied and held her ground. After a moment though, it was obvious her small body was growing weary and she didn't have the stamina to stay in form. The boy didn't relent however. She was taking a beating. The instructor watched on, something like pleasure or pride crossing his features. Kylo stood back a moment, watching silently, guarded.

The boy got Rey down and was landing blow after blow. Still the instructor watched on, choosing not to end the set.

Finally, it seemed Kylo could bear it no longer. He lunged forward and grabbed the brawny looking boy by the shirt, pulling him off Rey and setting him roughly to the side.

Sliding toward the screen slowly, and unconsciously covering her mouth with one hand, Rey watched a young version of her husband lifting her small self to her feet. He steadied Rey's slight form for a moment before releasing her and returning to his former position by the instructor, who didn't appear to be pleased.

The instructor took Kylo to the back of the room, just at the edge of the frame. It was difficult to see exactly what was happening, but it was obvious he was reprimanding Kylo. Clearly, Kylo had overstepped his bounds.

Rey felt a tear trickle down her cheek as she watch Kylo leave the room, eyes straight ahead, never turning toward the small girl.

So, he had known her.

He must remember.

Why had he never told her?

"Where is the lab?" she whispered to Poe.

He paused for just a second, pulling himself away from the video playback to look at her, "Oh, for the DNA test? Downstairs, I'll take you."

Rey pushed herself back from the desk. It was time to get a few answers.


	3. The File

The lab was cold, med droids didn't need heat though, so that made sense. The needle prick was nearly painless and the droid informed Rey the results could be matched with the standardized First Order records within a few hours.

Once she was back outside the lab and wandering the halls of the government complex, Rey was slightly at a loss. She headed down to the patch of green grass in the high rise courtyard.

Poe hadn't waited with her, he had worked he needed to finish before a debate that evening. With the new developments in her life, the thought of starting a school seemed entirely overwhelming. If that had been the sole aim of Phasma's scheme, it could easily be called a success.

Rey suspected there was a deeper plot afoot though as Phasma and never stuck her as educationally minded, regardless of her storm trooper training regimens.

Rey's mind wondered to Ben and what would he find on Parnassos. He had asked her to trust him, and though that was harder than it had been only 48 hours before, she knew in her heart she still did. She could sense he was calmer since they had spoken that morning.

Stretching her legs was doing Rey good and the rocking motion of her walk had apparently lulled the baby to sleep inside her, as it had finally stopped kicking up a storm. She knew though, that she shouldn't waste the time she had on Coruscant.

She didn't have to think for long about what to do next though, Phasma was strolling her way across the open green space.

It was still strange to see this new incarnation Phasma had crafted for herself. Her colorful, flowing robe sewn with bits of wispy cloth cut on the bias created elegant, feminine movement as she walked. It was enchanting really, Rey had to admit to herself.

Her words were less enchanting.

"Oh, you're still here in Coruscant, I expected you'd be halfway home by now."

Rey nodded, "I decided to get some things here first."

"It's such a shame about your..." Phasma paused and lowered her voice conspiratorially, "memory loss. I didn't realize, I'm so sorry, I really assumed you knew. I thought there was some deception on your part, but...memory loss I never expected." She shook her blond head in a way that Rey suspected was intended to appear sympathetic.

"Yes, well I don't broadcast it," Rey muttered.

"Of course not, no, that makes sense." Phasma nodded, again, it looked constructed to appear understanding.

Rey decided to throw caution to the wind and test the waters, "Well, I should be going, I'm expecting a video transmission from Ben soon."

Phasma's eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly.

"He's headed to Parnassos," Rey smiled pleasantly.

Phasma couldn't control her split-second gut reaction as it wrote fear and hatred across her face. She recovered quickly into politeness again, but the effort sent anger spilling into the Force between them.

"What could he be doing there?" Phasma asked lightly.

Rey smiled sweetly, "Research, I believe, he has a curious nature." She sighed and rubbed her belly absently, "I should go find a place to sit down."

Phasma nodded politely, suddenly at a loss for words.

Rey rolled back and forth on the chair in Poe's office, the wheels were squeaking slightly. There was a comfortable silence as he continued working. She had searched through a few more files but was growing too anxious to focus.

Finally, the transmission pinged her datapad.

The DNA results.

Rey pulled up the file. Tears welled up in her eyes as she read the form.

ID-UV-8855

Name- unspecified

Planet of Origin- unspecified

The file was almost entirely empty. Any information from her life prior to entering training was completely blank, or unspecified. Only a few entries from her time in training graced the file. She dejectedly scrolled through until she saw the words, "Date of death."

They had been kind enough to list a date. She would have been eight years old.

She tossed the datapad back to the desk.

"I'm going to Parnassos," she placed a hand on Poe's should briefly as she passed.

"Oh, ok, I'll...let you know if I find anything else." He stammered, slightly confused.

"Thank you, Poe, for everything." She smiled at him softly as she turned to go.


	4. Parnassos

The ship's indicator light blinked over the grey cockpit panel. Rey felt the drop out of light speed a few seconds later. Parnassos came suddenly into view. After everything she'd heard, she had expected it to be a wasteland, but to her eyes, it appeared to actually have some advantages over Jakku. It was really all in one's perspective.

She steered the ship down to the surface using the tracker to easily find Ben's ship and park nearby. Parnassos wasn't exactly overrun with visitors, so he was fairly easy to spot outside a large, old concrete complex.

Ben was walking towards her, as soon as he felt her presence through the Force. His long strides quickly closing he gap between them.

The warm wind whipped Rey's hair into her eyes as she broke into a short run to meet him.

"Rey," Ben whispered, his hands reaching for her as soon as she was close enough. He pulled her close to him, securing her against his chest while burying his face in her windswept hair and planting kiss after tender kiss on her head.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and pulling her chin up to look into his face, she said, "You knew me? As a child?"

Ben's eyes closed for a moment but he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She pleaded.

"I wasn't sure it was you at first," he shook his head, "there was something familiar about you on Starkiller base...but there are so many storm troopers that go missing or get killed, I had no idea...but then you pulled the lightsaber out of the snow." He sighed.

"You said, 'It is you.'" Rey remembered.

He nodded, "I thought you were probably FN-3627 then, but I wasn't completely sure until Phasma showed the video to the senate. Somehow she knew for sure it was you, I don't know how."

"That's why you came here?" Rey looked around at the barren landscape, the plain concrete building behind him, "But why did you tell me that my parents sold me? Why did you never mention your suspicions?"

"That is what I saw when we touched, and it made sense either way, they could have conceivably sold you to the First Order training program. I didn't want to get your hopes up and I didn't want you..."

He shook his head and buried his face in her hair again.

"Ben, you didn't want me to...what?" She pushed him back slightly to look into his eyes noticing the fear and tears welling up inside them.

"If it was you that I knew as a child, then I failed you. I let Phasma drop you off or sell you to Plutt, whatever she did."

"You think Phasma did it...but why?"

"I have a suspicion. I heard rumors throughout the years, but I don't know for sure." He answered.

"You didn't fail me, Ben, I saw you take care of me, but...why did you care?" Her voice broken into a whisper.

"I could feel your Force sensitivity. But mostly, I felt the connection." He broke eye contact with her.

"It was always there?" She asked.

He nodded sadly, "It didn't make any sense to me, you were just a little girl at the time, I didn't know why I could sense all of your emotions and so many of your thoughts."

Rey touched his face with finger tips, tracing his cheek and weaving her fingers into his hair.

"You had a low enough opinion of me," He continued, "and then later when you decided there was good in me...I was afraid to do anything that might make you change your mind." He exhaled deeply.

Rey nodded, finally understanding that part of the puzzle.

She pulled him into a kiss, his warm tears between them transferring to her own cheek.

"Phasma?" She asked, not even able to completely form the question in her mind.


End file.
